Addictions In Love Sick

For an engagement in an activity or use of a substance to be called an addiction, there are three primary criteria that must be met: it must be compulsive, not easily stopped, and detrimental to the well-being of the agent, so it is natural that there are similar characteristics shared between sufferers of addiction, even if the activities or substances that they partake in are not the same. These three criteria, however, are broad and do not restrict the ways in which addictions form and impact the lives of addicts. Sue William Silverman, in her book Love Sick, discusses the cause and detriments of her sexual addiction, and in Big Blonde, by Dorothy Parker, the development of alcoholism in the main character, Hazel Morse, is detailed. Though

In an exchange with Ted, her advisor, Sue reveals that “[she] just [kept] hoping… that if only one of [those] times [Rick] would really love [her], then everything would be okay” (33). Silverman did not necessarily appreciate engaging in sexual relations, rather she strived to satisfy the needs of her many partners with the goal that they would "love" her. In much the same way, Hazel shared a similar attitude: “Men liked you because you were fun, and when they liked you they took you out, and there you were. So, and successfully, she was fun. She was a good sport. Men liked a good sport” (132). Despite the fact that Hazel was not all that worried with being loved, it is the consideration of men that she sought, that first drove her to her alcoholism. Sue considered ideas that Ted would introduce to her: “it is love we’re truly after—that we don’t feel enough love, don’t know how to love. We use sex, food, alcohol, money—external objects of false gratification—to try to fill inner emptiness, loss, need—in this emotionally purblind world” (157). These ideas are applicable to both Sue and Hazel in that, though neither one of them considered themselves to be focused on filling a desire for love, both used their respective fixes to achieve some other goal. While their vices differed, the intention between the two women was he same. Despite these shared characteristics, though both Sue's sexual addiction and Hazel's abuse of alcohol formed in a social context at the hands of the perceived desires of men, the net effects of their addictions were